'''Henrietta Tower''' (''Henriette'', ''Enrichetta'') (26 October 1856 – 3 April 1933) was born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|url=http://republicanherald.com/news/pottsville-heiress-henrietta-tower-wurts-was-philanthropist-friend-of-mussolini-1.1913423|title=Pottsville heiress Henrietta Tower Wurts was philanthropist, friend of Mussolini|last=Marquardt|first=Catherine|work=Republican-Herald|access-date=2017-03-15|language=en-US}}</ref> While living in Rome, she and her husband, George Washington Wurts, created an art collection containing approximately 3,000 works<ref name=":1" /> that was donated on her death in 1933 to Benito Mussolini. The art collection remains in Rome, and their villa and gardens are open to the public.
== Early life == Henrietta Tower was the sixth of seven children of Charlemagne Tower,<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x1ArEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA60 |title=Iron Millionaire: Life of Charlemagne Tower |first=Hal |last=Bridges |date=1952 |pages=59–60 |publisher=University of Pennsylvania Press |location=Philadelphia, Pennsylvania |isbn=978-1512814767 |access-date=2024-03-13}}</ref> a lawyer, businessman, and graduate of Harvard University. On her father’s death in 1889, Tower inherited a vast fortune from his business ventures which included a coal mining operation in Pennsylvania and an iron production plant in Minnesota. This inheritance made her one of the wealthiest women in the United States at that time.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last=Fachechi|first=Grazia Maria|year=2004|title=George Washington Wurts, Henriette Tower, una collezione "di curiosità e opere d'arte" e una villa "magnificent, the handsomest ever bestowed on Rome"|url=https://www.academia.edu/12541135|journal=Riflessi del Collezionismo Tra Bilanci Critici e Nuovi Contributi. Reflections On/Of Art Collecting, Between Critical Assessments and New Contribution|language=IT}}</ref>
== Life in Rome and art collection == thumb|Villa Sciarra in Rome Tower married George Washington Wurts in 1898. In 1902 the couple moved to Rome and bought a villa, known as the Villa Sciarra-Wurts, which they spent the rest of their lives renovating and decorating with a variety of art works. They frequently entertained the wealthy, ambassadors, and aristocratic members of society. After her husband died in 1928 Tower gave their villa to the city of Rome on the condition that the vast garden be turned into a public park and cultural center in honor of the German poet, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. (Included with this was a gift of $50,000 to maintain the property.)<ref name=":1" /> The park so dedicated was opened in 1932 and a year later, in 1933, Tower died in Lucerne, Switzerland and is buried in the Protestant cemetery in Rome.<ref name=":0" />
Through her will Tower bequeathed the vast art collection that she and her husband had expanded over several decades to Benito Mussolini, on the condition that it be kept in a museum. The collection was given to Rome's Museo nazionale del Palazzo di Venezia where it has remained since (although several works remain in the Villa Sciarra-Wurts). Included in the collection are over 3,000 items including: ceramics, textiles, tapestries, paintings (including works by Ottaviano Nelli, Vincenzo Pagani, John Russell, Paolo Veneziano, and Michael Wolgemut), about 80 wooden sculptures,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://museopalazzovenezia.beniculturali.it/index.php?en/174/sculture-lignee|title=Wood Sculptures|date=2011-12-20|website=museopalazzovenezia.beniculturali.it|access-date=2017-03-16}}</ref> various works from China and Japan, and a significant number of works from Russia including 33 late 19th-century women's hats.<ref name=":1" />
Tower will also establish ''The Henrietta Tower Wurts Foundation'' in Philadelphia which in addition to funding Meals on Wheels also provides small grants to “organizations serving disadvantaged children and youth and/or the elderly”.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.philafound.org/Nonprofits/ApplyforaGrant/TypesofGrantsAvailable/HenriettaTowerWurts.aspx|title=Henrietta Tower Wurts grants at The Philadelphia Foundation|last=Foundation|first=The Philadelphia|website=www.philafound.org|language=en-US|access-date=2017-03-15|archive-date=2017-03-16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316024722/https://www.philafound.org/Nonprofits/ApplyforaGrant/TypesofGrantsAvailable/HenriettaTowerWurts.aspx|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == * Official site [http://museopalazzovenezia.beniculturali.it/index.php?en/1/home Museo Nazionale Piazza Venezia] * Official site [https://www.philafound.org/Nonprofits/ApplyforaGrant/TypesofGrantsAvailable/HenriettaTowerWurts.aspx Henrietta Tower Wurts Foundation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316024722/https://www.philafound.org/Nonprofits/ApplyforaGrant/TypesofGrantsAvailable/HenriettaTowerWurts.aspx |date=2017-03-16 }}
== See also == * Charlemagne Tower Jr.
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Tower, Henrietta}} Category:1856 births Category:1933 deaths Category:Burials at the Protestant Cemetery, Rome Category:American art collectors Category:American women art collectors Category:American expatriates in Italy